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Baby Gear

So Christmas is next week, apparently. Did you realize, because I just looked at the calendar, and HOW!? I had ‘finished’ shopping for the twins a month or so ago, but then, you know, I saw some things and had to have them. I always said I wasn’t going to go overboard on Christmas. Just chalk that up to another one of those things you say you’re never going to do when you’re a parent. Because I dove head first. Well, I guess not really. It could be worse, right?

Below are the very special gifts for Winter. I tried to do a decent amount of small business shopping in addition to snatching up all the sales at my favorite major retailers. I didn’t want to buy so many flashy, in your face, plastic toys – though you will see a baby smartphone on the list because she’s obsessed! I doubt it will fool her into thinking it’s as cool as my phone, but I figured it was worth a shot. Take a look and let me know what you think. With expedited shipping you can probably still get your hands on some of my must-haves.

Like this:

Expecting twins can be a little overwhelming. On top of that, they’re my first babies and so I’m totally clueless. After talking with my sister-in-law who has an 18-month-old and doing research via other blogs, I knew there were some items I ‘had to have’ and some items that were just wants and some that are a total shot in the dark.

Knowing that my family is throwing me a shower and that everyone is so excited for us, I knew everyone would want to help out. I tried to find safe, stylish items that were also affordable. With some things – I’m talking to you stroller and car seat manufacturer’s – there is no ‘inexpensive’ option. And obviously, you wouldn’t want to skimp on either of those items since they need to be super safe for babies.

Here is what I came up with for my twin registry must haves.

1. Cloth Diapers – while I know this isn’t a good option for everyone, I will be a stay at home mom and it’ll be easier for me to throw in a load of laundry than to pack up two babies and drive to the store every time I run out. After much research, I’ve chosen Bumgenius 4.0 all-in-one diapers (both newborn and one-size diapers). I want the newborn diapers since our babies will likely be smaller at birth and stay small a little bit longer than singleton babies.

2. Bumbos – I’ve heard mixed reviews on the bumbo seats from other moms. Some love them and depend on them and others haven’t found much use for them. I plan to use them so that I can take a shower (and just put the babies in their seats on the floor outside my glass shower), while the babies are taking baths but not quite stable enough to sit up on their own the entire time, and when mommy just needs to have her hands free.

3. My Brest Friend Nursing Pillow – this particular nursing pillow can be used when tandem feeding twins, which is what I plan to do more often than not. The quicker I can get them both fed and back to sleep, the more sleep I can get! (or at least that’s what I’m hoping for)

4. Baby Jogger City Mini Double – this stroller is a side-by-side, which some people don’t like, but I do. It’s the ‘mini’ version so it fits through a standard size door. It also folds really easily. After test driving strollers when we were like 3 days pregnant, or something like that, we knew we needed something compact, lightweight and easy to maneuver since I’ll likely be using it a lot on my own. And as far as strollers go, while I had sticker shock, it’s one of the most affordable, highly-rated, double strollers around. The other thing to consider is that because this stroller is compact, it cannot accommodate two car seats at the same time. They do sell compact prams for infants to lay flat in the stroller.

5. Changing Pad – this changing pad is a little on the pricey side, however, it doesn’t need a cover and easily cleans. It’s been used in hospitals and doctors offices and gets really great reviews. Being a slight germaphobe, knowing I can just lysol off any poop blow-outs instead of having to wash a cover and worry that the poop germs already made their home inside my foam changing pad, will help me sleep at night.

6. Bottles – I chose this bottle option, even though I’m planning to do a lot of breast feeding, it’ll be helpful to have someone else be able to feed them every now and then. This bottle is designed to imitate the ‘real deal’ and it’s sold at Target, so it’s for me!

7. Crib – cribs can get so expensive. Do I love the look of a really pricey Restoration Hardware crib? Sure I do, but I just simply cannot justify it. Then after doing research on multiple blogs, I kept seeing this super simple, wooden crib and found that it’s from Ikea! It’s very affordable, can be adjusted to two levels, one side comes off to turn into a toddler bed and fits regular crib sized mattresses. These were generously gifted to me from my mom, and because she’s concerned our babies won’t know what colors are – because I LOVE neutrals – we are working on a little project to add color to the crib rungs/spindles to get this sort of look only without this kind of price tag.

8. Rock n’ Play – this is an item that my sister-in-law received at her shower. It wasn’t something she registered for and initially we thought it would be something she wouldn’t use, and then my littlest nephew was born. He slept in this at the beginning as he wasn’t quite ready for the big, wide world of his crib just yet and he slept in this when he travelled. She told me it was one of the items I ‘must’ get.

9. Baby Book – for all our memories and keepsakes. I stumbled upon this one at Anthropologie and thought it was really cute.

10. Teething necklace – I’m not real comfortable with the idea of teething necklaces for my babies to wear. I just fear it breaking and them choking on the little pieces, but that doesn’t mean that mommy can’t wear a necklace that the babies can play with and chew on.

11. Baby Monitor – when it comes to a baby monitor, at first, I wasn’t going to get anything fancy. Their room is right across the hall from ours. After watching my nephew a few times, I found myself just staring at the little screen watching him sleep, checking to make sure he was still breathing and just taking in all of the cuteness. Then we found this monitor, which can zoom and pan the room. It comes with a second camera (and you can add up to four) for if/when the babies move into separate rooms. It is pricey, but not a whole lot more than some of the single camera monitors.

12. Noise Machine – I chose the Baby Shusher because it’s gotten really great reviews. It can sit on a dresser top, next to a crib, can be thrown in a stroller or next to the car seat.

13. Car Seats – this can be one of the most overwhelming items to do research on. There are so many brands and options, newborn car seats, convertible car seats, the list goes on. For me, I wanted a convertible car seat that could fit tiny babies (this one goes as low as 4lbs) and will convert all the way up into a booster seat when the kids are older. So I will only need one car seat per child, forever, period, that’s it. Also, Maxi Cosi is said to have lightweight car seats compared to some others that can get really, really heavy. Since I’ll have two, this is important.

14. 4 Moms Rockaroo Baby Swing – There are a ton of baby swings out there, but this one is all the rage. It gets really great reviews, and even though this is the lower model, I think it will help me out just fine.

15. Play Mat – there are a million play mats out there for babies as well. I wanted one that wasn’t extra loud or bright and that I could add toys to and fit both babies underneath (at least at the beginning). Ikea won again!

16. Diaper Bag – this is another place where options are vast, ranging from designer to affordable, stylish to basic, leather to canvas, bright to neutral, tote vs. cross body vs. backpack and so many more. Of course I was really attracted to a leather version that converted from a tote, to a cross body bag and to a backpack but spending $200+ seemed kind of ridiculous. I found this one, at Target, and I love the color of the bag and love the color of the inside and changing pad. I don’t need designer, I just need it to hold diapers, a change of clothes and some bottles and toys.

Those are my must haves, but trust me when I say I have so much more on my registry. There are so many little things that are needed that you forget about until you have to put a registry together. One more note about my registry is that I decided to have it through BabyList and not register at any actual stores. So far, I haven’t heard any complaints about this and it allows me to add things from any website making it easier on me to not have to settle. It also shows where the item is the lowest price so that anyone being so generous as to buy us something can get the very best deal!

Sorry that this post is so long! After the babies are born I’ll be sure to do an update to let you know about which items I actually use most often and if there’s any I would forgo if I could do it all over.